Sleeve insert for garment



June 5, 1962 H. NEUMAN 3,037,210

SLEEVE INSERT FOR GARMENT Filed Nov. 16, 1959 FIG- .5

v INVENTOR. I HAROLD L. NEUMAN v ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent C) P 3,037,210 SLEEVE INSERT FOR GARMENT Harold L.Neuman, 707 Ashbourne Road, Elkins Park, Pa. Filed Nov. 16, 1959, Ser.No. 853,111 3 Claims. (Cl. 2--125) My invention relates to sleevedgarments and more particularly to a garment having a stretchable orexpandable insert between the sleeve and the body of the garment.

Heretofore, varioustypes of stretchable or elastic inserts have beenproposed in sleeve construction, particularly for knitted garments, toprovide freedom of movement of the arms of the wearer and to eliminatestresses at the areas of attachment of the sleeves to the garment body.These have included stretchable inserts between the sleeve and the bodyof the garment disposed variously at only the underarm area or at thisarea and tapering front and/ or rear toward the neck of the garment, andextending peripherally around the armhole.

These constructions were subject to a variety of disadvantages. Theunderarm inserts permitted freedom of movement of the arm and minimizedstresses on the garment only for arm raising movements. No relief wasprovided for throwing action or other forward arm movement. In the caseof the insert which ringed the armhole, although this provided astress-free source of weakness, the shoulder area soon becamepermanently stretched out of shape because of the continual strain onthe insert by the pull of the sleeves during normal use.

An object of the present invention is to provide a garment of thisgeneral type in which the above defects have been remedied.

Another object of the invention is to provide a knitted sweater or shirthaving full upward and forward freedom of arm movement.

Still another object is to provide a garment of this general type havinga stretchable insert which is unstrained when the wearer is in normalrelaxed position with arms disposed downwardly.

A further object is to provide a sleeve insert which has a wide underarmportion tapering frontwardly and upwardly toward the neck and risingrearwardly upwardly to the outward end of the shoulder.

Still a further object is to produce a garment having a sleeve insertproviding unrestrained forward and upward arm movement in which thesleeve is directly attached to the body along the shoulder.

With these and other objects in view which will become apparent from theensuing description and claims, the following sets forth the details ofconstruction and combination of parts of a specific embodiment of myinvention, which will best be understood when read in conjunction withthe accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a front view of the garment.

FIG. 2 is a rear view of the garment.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the pattern form of the one piece sleeve of thegarment of FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the garment.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the pattern form of the stretchable insert.

Referring to FIG. 1, a garment, generally designated as 10, which may bea sweater, jersey, or shirt of knitted fabric has a body portioncomprising a front section 12 and a back section 14 both having theirwales vertical, as indicated by arrow 15, and being attached together byunderarm seams 16, and a conventional neck and collar 18 which may bedifferent than that shown.

The shirt includes one-piece sleeves 20 and 22 having the pattern shapeor blank designated generally as 24 in FIG. 3. As seen in FIGS. 2, 3 and4, the wales of the sleeves extend generally longitudinally thereofas'indicated by the arrow 21. As represented in this figure, the blank24 has a left margin 26 and is furcated to the right to provide a lowerportion or front furcation 28 and an upper portion or back furcation 30,both tapering generally toward the right. The lower portion 28 has anupper margin 32, a lower margin 34 and the taper is truncated at theright end at the margin 36. The upper portion 30 tapers toward the upperright to a point 38 with a top margin 40 and a lower or right margin 42.The wales of the blank 24 are generally horizontal as viewed in FIG. 3.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the inserts S0, of stretchable or looserib-knit fabric, are fitted between the arms 20 and 22 (shown inhorizontal position) and the body portions 12 and 14 to provide a wideportion 52 at the armpit extending in front taperingly toward the collar18 and terminating a short distance therefrom at the point 54, and atthe rear extending with a slight taper toward the outward end of theshoulder and terminating at the top thereof in the margin 56 of slightwidth. The wales of the insert 50 extend generally parallel to thearmhole, as indicated by arrow 57 in FIGS. 2 and 5.

The construction of the right sleeve will now be described but it is tobe understood that the left sleeve is the same in reverse. Thestretchable insert 50 is sewn to the sleeve blank 24 along the margin 42beginning at the point 38 and then continuing along the margin 32 to thepoint 54. To form the sleeve cylinder, the portions 28 and 30 of theblank 24 are folded together with the ends of the margin 26 incoincidence, the margins 34 and 40 are stitched together for the lengthof the latter and across the end 56 of the insert 50, and a one-piececuff 53 is sewn to the margin 26.

The remaining left end portion of the margin 34, as viewed in FIGS. 1and 3, is stitched to the shoulder margin 58 of the back section 14 asillustrated in FIG. 2. The end 36 of the sleeve portion 28 is sewn tothe collar at the point 60 as shown in FIG. 1. The portion of the margin32, between the point 54 and the end 36, is sewn to the shoulder edge 62of the front section 12, as shown in FIG. 1. The remaining free edge ofthe insert 50 is then sewn to the body sections 12 and 14 along theedges 64 and 66 respectively.

It is readily apparent from the foregoing construction that tensionalong the sleeve cannot cause permanent stretch in the insert 50 becausethe force is transmitted to the body section 12 and to the collar 18along the margins 62 and 60, and to the body section 14 along the margin58, without stretching the insert.

Although the invention has been described in considerable detail, suchdescription is intended as illustrative rather than limiting, as otherembodiments will be evident to those skilled in the art, as Well asobvious modifications in construction and arrangement of parts, withoutdeparting from the spirit of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In combination with a garment of the class described made of knittedmaterial having a body portion comprising front and back sectionsattached together by underar-mseams, sleeves each formed from a blankhaving tapered front and back furcations, the front furcation beinglonger than the back furcation, a stretchable insert for each sleevehaving a wide medial portion with the front portion tapering to a pointand the back portion tapering to a truncated margin, one longitudinalmargin of said insert being stitched to the confluent margins of saidfurcations with the back portion of said insert attached to said backfurcation for the full length thereof and with the front portion of saidinsert attached to said front furcation for part of the length thereof,the other Patented June 5, 1962 longitudinal margin of said insert beingsewn to the armhole margins of said body with the back portion of saidinsert attached to said back body section with the truncated margin ofsaid insert stitched to the external margin of said front furcation andwith the front portion of said insert attached to said front bodysection, and the free end of the confluent margin of said frontfurcation being stitched to said front body section and the externalmargin of said front furcation inward of its attachment to said insertbeing stitched to said back body section.

2. The invention of claim 11 in which said garment has a collar at theneckline and said front furcation is truncated at the end to provide anend margin which is attached to said collar.

3. The invention of claim 1 in which the wales of the body are generallyvertical, the wales of the sleeves extend generally longitudinallythereof and the wales of said inserts extend generally parallel to therespective armholes.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,061,481 Polis Nov. 17, 1936 2,554,380 Olrich et a1 May 22, 19512,583,089 Clyne Jan. 22, 1952 2,836,826 Geiss June 3, 1958 2,839,756Geiss June 24, 1958 2,941,210 Bren June 21, 1960 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,994Great Britain Feb. 1, 1905 855,532 Germany Nov. 13, 1952

